# sing small
## English
### Etymology

From sing + small (“in a small fashion; (obsolete) in a low tone, softly”).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /sɪŋ ˈsmɔːl/
* Audio (Southern England):noicon(file)
* (General American) IPA: /sɪŋ ˈsmɔl/, (cot–caught merger) /-smɑl/
* Rhymes: -ɔːl

### Verb

sing small (third-person singular simple present sings small, present participle singing small, simple past sang small, past participle sung small) (intransitive)
* (idiomatic)
** To assume a humble tone.
*** 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVII. Miss Byron. In Continuation.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume I, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 111:By all that's good, I muſt myſelf ſing ſmall in her company!—I vvill never meet at hard-edge vvith her— […]
*** 1877 October, “The Nicotian Lotos-eater. [From the German of Leistner.]”, in Cope’s Tobacco Plant. A Monthly Periodical, Interesting to the Manufactuerer, the Dealer, and the Smoker, volume II, number 91, Liverpool, Lancashire: John Fraser, →OCLC, page 86, column 2:Then shoots through my enjoyment / The one sharp drop of gall: / The host—the cur, the heathen— / On 'Baccy singeth small.
** To not say anything; to keep quiet.
*** a. 1850 (date written), James Clarence Mangan, “An Invitation”, in Poems […], New York, N.Y.: P. M. Haverty, […], published 1859, →OCLC, page 436:Deutschland sleeps: her star has waned. / France, the Thundress whilome, now / Singeth small, with bated breath.
** To play a minor part.
* (singing, obsolete) To sing softly.
** 1603, Plutarch, “How a Man may Discerne a Flatterer from a Friend”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, pages 93–94:[A]re not moſt of our kings being vvhen they ſing ſmall and fine, after a puling maner, ſaluted Apolloes for their muſicke: […]
** c. 1623–1624 (date written), Tho[mas] Middleton, “Women Beware Women. A Tragedy”, in Two New Playes. […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], published 1657, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 180:I marvell'd ſhe ſung ſo ſmall indeed, being no Maid.
** 1870, J. P. Robson, “The Poet’s Photograph”, in Evangeline: Or, The Spirit of Progress; […], Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland: […] J. M. Carr, […], →OCLC, page 236:The Poet culls that dainty flowers; he saileth on the floods; / Leaps with the fountain's ecstacy, and dwelleth in the woods; / Launcheth his barque of hopeful song, nor dreads the roaring fall; / Singing with lark and nightingale, though oft he singeth small.

#### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) sing small | (to) sing small |
| | present tense | past tense |
| 1st-person singular | sing small | sang small |
| 2nd-person singular | sing small, singest small$^†$ | sang small, sangest small$^†$, sungest small$^†$ |
| 3rd-person singular | sings small, singeth small$^†$ | sang small |
| plural | sing small | sang small |
| subjunctive | sing small | sang small |
| imperative | sing small | — |
| participles | singing small | sung small |
$^†$Archaic or obsolete.

#### See also

* play second fiddle

### Further reading

* “to sing small, phrase” under “small, adv.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2022.